This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
May is the month for walking festivals when walkers make use of longer days to scale the rickety stiles of the British countryside. There’s been a slew of new festivals in recent years — with guided walks themed around subjects as diverse as archaeology and astronomy, food and folklore. The festival calendar drops off through June and July, but the pace picks up again in September, when walkers can savour the last drops of summer at a handful of events.
1. Haltwhistle Walking Festival
Best for: history
27 April-6 May
Millennia ago, centurions marched the ramparts of Hadrian’s Wall — these days walkers follow in their sandalled footsteps with the advent of the Haltwhistle Walking Festival. Hosted in a town right beside the Romans’ ramparts, the festival includes some two dozen events centred in great part on local history — the legions loom large, but so too do medieval priories, Quaker meeting houses and historic mining communities.
2. Isle of Wight Walking Festival
Best for: islands
11-19 May
This festival celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2024, with an event in spring and another in autumn. Book onto the spring session to see the island’s natural world beginning to stir — guided walks take participants in search of red squirrels, passing through bluebell woods, wading the shallows on a seagrass harvesting project and exploring the steep, sublime scenery of West Wight.
3. Suffolk Walking Festival
Best for: easy walking
11-26 May
If the contours of Wales, the English Lakes or the Scottish Highlands seem too daunting, head to the more kindly gradients of Suffolk for this walking festival. Close to 60 guided walks explore this famously flat county, ranging from potters beside the North Sea coast at eerie Orford Ness to saunters amid the more idyllic landscapes of Dedham Vale.
4. Winchcombe Walking Festival
Best for: village-exploration
17-19 May
Hikers come to the Cotswolds for the wooded escarpments and blustery commons, but it’s also beloved for having some of England’s loveliest towns and villages. Among them is Winchcombe, an ancient Anglo-Saxon capital hosting a walking festival in May. Hikes explore pubs, parishes and pathways — including a meteorite-themed walk in honour of a celestial object that crash landed in February 2021.
5. Arran Mountain Festival
Best for: a mountain view
17-20 May
Anyone wishing to dip their toe into Scottish mountaineering should head to the Isle of Arran: not only are its hills said to represent the Highlands in miniature, but it also hosts the Arran Mountain Festival, with a programme of walks for many abilities. Head up Goatfell — the island’s highest point (874m) — or traverse the A’Chir ridge, with vertical drops below.
6. Gower Walking Festival
Best for: a coastline walk
7-15 September
The Gower is a finger of land protruding into the sea west of Swansea, with cliffs rising sheer from the swells of the Bristol Channel. The annual festival’s programme is still being finalised, but Wales’s finest beaches are likely to play a starring role: hikers will pass the sandy sweep of Rhossili Beach, the little coves of Caswell and Pwll Du and, best of all, the great wandering estuary at Three Cliffs.
7. Richmond Walking and Book Festival
Best for: bookworms
20-29 September
The festival offers a two for one, promising to combine ‘boots and books’, ‘walks and words’. This year’s schedule is still to be confirmed, but expect to spend days pacing the uplands of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with evenings resting tired feet but exercising curious minds, listening to authors read from their work.
Published in the May 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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